The Vol Shop and other departments on campus put together a Volunteer Proud Pack that will be delivered to the student Friday.

Author:
Amelia Young

Published:
4:49 PM CDT September 5, 2019

Updated:
9:28 PM CDT September 5, 2019

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Vol Nation's support for a fellow Vol is truly powerful, no matter how far away they are.

More than 650 miles away in the Sunshine State lives a young Vol fan near Orlando, surrounded by a sea of Gators.

According to a Facebook post from his teacher, Laura Snyder, the boy wanted to represent the Vols on college colors day at his elementary school, but he didn't have a UT shirt. So he got creative, making his own by drawing a UT logo on a white piece of paper and pinning it on an orange shirt.

"After lunch, he came back to my room, put his head on his desk and was crying. Some girls at the lunch table next to his (who didn’t even participate in college colors day) had made fun of his sign that he had attached to his shirt. He was DEVASTATED," she wrote. "I know kids can be cruel, I am aware that it’s not the fanciest sign, BUT this kid used the resources he had available to him to participate in a spirit day."

“I was touched to learn of a young Florida elementary school student’s heart for the University of Tennessee, and I LOVED his imagination behind designing his own shirt. So many of us admire his love for the University of Tennessee, and we will be rewarding his creativity with a ‘fan pack’ from Knoxville.”

"I think he will go from making his own shirt to being the envy of the school," said Delaney.

As for the rest of the kids in the class, the Vol Shop is spreading some Tennessee love to them with water bottles and bracelets.

"That's what Vols do. We love our own and that's what's so special about being apart of the Vol community and really, really being a Vol for life. That's what it's all about," said Grubbs.